The National Multilevel Governance Council met today, for the first time since its establishment, in the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Nikis Kerameos.

In the greeting addressed by Ms. Kerameos, who holds the role of coordinator, pointed out that the goals of the reform are the optimal coordination of the different levels of government, the avoidance of overlapping responsibilities of services and agencies and better information to the citizen.

“The National System of Multilevel Governance is an important intersection for the Greek public. Many of the biggest and most important challenges facing the public administration today concern more than one level of administration and require the optimal coordination of Municipalities, Regions, Decentralized Administrations and the central state in order to be addressed,” emphasized the Minister of the Interior.

As he characteristically said, with this reform, for the first time, the stakeholders from all levels of government enter into a process of institutionalized, organized and continuous consultation with the aim of coordinating the different levelsthe elimination of overlaps of responsibilities as well as the definition of responsibility for the exercise of each responsibility, in cases where the roles are not clear.

“With the operation of the National Multilevel Governance Council and its first meeting today, an important step is taken to strengthen the effectiveness of the state mechanism. Together with the political leadership of the Ministry of the Interior, we will help in this effort, which is based on the good cooperation of all relevant ministries and agencies,” said Mrs. Kerameos. She emphasized that the Ministry’s priorities include the design and operation of a publicly accessible electronic platform for recording and monitoring the authorities’ responsibilities, with the aim of providing immediate and valid information to the citizen, who will be able to know where to turn for any matter that concerns him, easily and quickly.

The minister cited as an example the prevention and treatment of the effects of the climate crisis in our country, which is one of the challenges of Multilevel Governance. “The now frequent flooding phenomena make imperative the need for immediate and efficient planning and implementation of anti-flooding projects. Ensuring the sufficiency and quality of water reserves is another bet created by climate change and must be won, which requires the cooperation of all relevant bodies” he concluded.